Old Dog, New Tricks

As mentioned in one of my 2012 goals, I want to be more consistent with running with the dogs this year.  There are several reasons for this but one of the biggest is time.  I am a firm believer in the whole 'if you want to do something, you can find the time to make it happen' concept.  One of the things I make time to do every single day is make sure the dogs get a walk...a decent walk.  When I just had one dog, it was easy.  When I had two dogs, it was also fairly easy.  When I got up to three dogs, it started getting a little more complicated.

One has dog aggression issues and a hatred for all types of delivery trucks, one is hyper and crazy-active, one starts barking like crazy if the other two get worked up.  Mix all this with some idiot neighbors who sometimes let their dogs run loose.  Walking all three together ended in pure chaos at least 50% of the time.  Next, mix in one dog with an ACL injury who needs severely restricted and controlled exercise and I ended up finding myself taking three dogs on three separate walks each day plus trying to squeeze in a run on many of those days as well.  It only made sense to try to consolidate some things together a few days during the week.

First up, my in-house inventory of potential running partners:

Who wants to run?

Potential Running Partner #1 - Lab Mix, estimated age 8-9 yrs. but no one really knows.  Known as Jackson, J, JJ, Big Boy, Old Boy and Gramps.  Adopted six years ago.  The biggest fan of the daily walk.  Prefers routines and schedules.  Will try to kill other dogs, particularly golden retrievers, if not introduced in a very structured way.  Will attack whatever is closest to him if the UPS truck drives by.  Has many other quirks and seems to be growing more and more into the old man who is just a bit lost in his own little world.  

Potential Running Partner #2 - Beagle, estimated age 7-8 yrs but no one really knows.  Known as Kasey, Kase, White Boots, Booty and Maria.  The second adopted, about five years ago.  Not a fan of exercise, prefers sleeping and eating.  

Potential Running Partner #3 - Lab/Pit/Dobie Mix?  Who knows.  Estimated Age - 3 years, most of which was spent in an animal shelter.  Known as Hannah, Nanner, Banana and Morgan.  Adopted seven months ago.  Can be a terror.

Kasey automatically gets knocked out of the picture.  She won't run.  I tried a long time ago.  It just doesn't work with a beagle...or at least this beagle.  Plus, she has a bum leg.  So, she's the cool-down girl.  She gets her short, modified walk after the other two get their exercise.  Luckily, her cuteness can make up for her lack of interest in exercise.  She used to be a nightmare to control as well, the cuteness got her over those hurdles too.

Sleeping is how she spends most of the day

Trying to obtain food fills the other half.

I hate you people, stop laughing at me.

Next up, Hannah.  The natural.  I've run with her since we brought her home from the shelter.  She needs it, desperately.  She either needs a run with me or a long session of fetch each day to make her manageable.  Somedays though, it is frustrating to run with her and I'd rather just have a calm, relaxing run by myself.  She's tripped me, on more than one occasion.  The first minute or so is usually bad until she gets into a rhythm.  If I take her, I have limited routes because I don't want to take her where there is any traffic.  But, it's good for her and um...those problems aren't really problems.  I'll stop whining.

Bowling over little dogs is a popular game

Fetch...it releases the demons

Sleepy dogs = Happy People

Jackson, the old boy.  My surprise case.  I tried running with him the past but I was always trying to tow Kasey too and it never worked.  I never tried running with just him, he seemed fine with a nice walk.  Over the past month or two, I decided to try to see if he'd run since I was already walking each one separately.  He's getting up there in years but the girls in the house must keep him somewhat young.  I certainly don't push him (unlike Hannah, who I push to wear her out) but he seems to be enjoying it!  He seems to start getting a little tired at 2 miles so that's his distance.

At our wedding

Even older picture, even less gray on the face!

My system is warm-up with Jackson for up to 1-2 miles, swap out, anything up to 6 miles with Hannah (she could definitely do more, I just can't stand making my immediate neighborhood loops any longer than that), swap out, and a quick cool-down with Kasey.

Workout complete - dog walks complete.  It's a win win!